Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet accumulating device that loads and accumulates thereon sheets that have been fed to a sheet discharge port and to improvement of a conveying mechanism that conveys sheets fed from the sheet discharge port to a predetermined position.
Description of the Related Art
There are various types of mechanisms that load and accumulates, on a loading surface disposed downstream of a sheet discharge port, sheets on which an image has been formed by an image forming apparatus. For example, a post-processing device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is connected to the sheet discharge port of the image forming apparatus, guides the image-formed sheets to a predetermined post-processing tray and accumulates the sheets thereon, and houses the post-processed sheets in a downstream side stack tray.
More specifically, in Patent Document 1, processing tray is disposed downstream of the sheet discharge port, and the processing tray is provided with a sheet end regulating section that regulates positions of sheet ends by making the sheet ends abut thereagainst and an endless belt mechanism that conveys the sheets to the regulating section.
In the endless belt mechanism, a flexible belt is suspended from above the processing tray onto a topmost sheet and rotated in a conveying direction. In general, such a belt has on its surface a plurality of convexes with a V-shaped cross section. Forming the convexes on the belt surface increases friction with the sheet that contact the belt surface, allowing reduction of a pressing force that presses the belt against the sheet.